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Ahead of and shortly after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, a number of officials, including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz suggested the war could be done on the cheap and that it would largely pay for itself. In October 2003, Rumsfeld told a press conference about President Bush's request for $21 billion for Iraq and Afghan reconstruction that "the $20 billion the president requested is not intended to cover all of Iraq's needs. The bulk of the funds for Iraq's reconstruction will come from Iraqis -- from oil revenues, recovered assets, international trade, direct foreign investment, as well as some contributions we've already received and hope to receive from the international community." In March 2003, Mr. Wolfowitz told Congress that "we're really dealing with a country that could finance its own reconstruction." In April 2003, the Pentagon said the war would cost about $2 billion a month, and in July of that year Rumsfeld increased that estimate to $4 billion.

When it comes to reconstruction, before we turn to the American taxpayer, we will turn first to the resources of the Iraqi government and the international community.”
Donald Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
March 27, 2003
“There is a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be US taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people. We are talking about a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.”
Paul Wolfowitz
Deputy Secretary of Defense
testifying before the defense subcommittee
of the House Appropriations Committee
March 27, 2003

Lets not forget but the then foreign minister of Israel also signed an executive order according to news articles allowing the Israelis to invest in dinar...there is also that YouTube video about the dinar investment by the Israelis...

A lot of banks have not paid dividends since 2012....one of my banks stocks a bank that I have my accounts have paid cash for the past two years, and they are still 3 years behind, they still owe me 16,17,18

I personally would stay away from warka, I was within them during the early days, and transferred all my shares to anither bank and brokerage account, lucky it’s a big bank bank and one part owned by an international bank...I am also registered with the Iraqi depositary centre as a registered trader and have a trading licence. It’s an ever changing market and banks can set and make up rules when it suits, this is why I am starting an investment club and will be buying and selling through my broker.

Zimbabwe Promises New Currency as Dollar Shortage Bites
January 12, 2019 10:30 PM
Reuters
A motorcyclist with two jerry cans attached to his motorbike counts his bond notes at a fuel station, Jan. 11, 2019, in Harare.
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HARARE, ZIMBABWE —
Zimbabwe will introduce a new currency in the next 12 months, the finance minister said, as a shortage of U.S. dollars has plunged the financial system into disarray and forced businesses to close.
In the past two months, the southern African nation has suffered acute shortages of imported goods, including fuel whose price was increased by 150 percent Saturday.
Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency in 2009 after it was wrecked by hyperinflation and adopted the greenback and other currencies, such as sterling and the South African rand.
But there is not enough hard currency in the country to back up the $10 billion of electronic funds trapped in local bank accounts, prompting demands from businesses and civil servants for cash that can be deposited and used to make payments.
Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube presents his budget statement in the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Nov. 22, 2018, in Harare.
Two weeks of reserves
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube told a townhall meeting Friday a new local currency would be introduced in less than 12 months.
“On the issue of raising enough foreign currency to introduce the new currency, we are on our way already, give us months, not years,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s foreign reserves now provide less than two weeks cover for imports, central bank data show. The government has previously said it would only consider launching a new currency if it had at least six months of reserves.
Bad memories of Zimbabwean dollar
Locals are haunted by memories of the Zimbabwean dollar, which became worthless as inflation spiraled to reach 500 billion percent in 2008, the highest rate in the world for a country not at war, wiping out pensions and savings.
A surrogate bond note currency introduced in 2016 to stem dollar shortages has also collapsed in value.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is under pressure to revive the economy but dollar shortages are undermining efforts to win back foreign investors sidelined under his predecessor Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa told reporters Saturday that the price of petrol had increased to $3.31 per liter from $1.32 since midnight but there would be no increase for foreign embassies and tourists paying in cash U.S. dollars.
Locals can pay via local debit cards, mobile phone payments and a surrogate bond note currency.
Public transport drivers complain about having to pay for fuel in U.S. dollars at a fuel station, Jan. 11, 2019, in Harare. Motorists are spending nights waiting in long queues for petrol and diesel as the country is experiencing crippling fuel shortages.
With less than $400 million in actual cash in Zimbabwe, according to central bank figures, fuel shortages have worsened and companies are struggling to import raw materials and equipment, forcing them to buy greenback notes on the black market at a premium of up to 370 percent.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries has warned some of its members could stop operating at the end of the month because of the dollar crunch.
Cooking oil and soap maker Olivine Industries said Saturday it had suspended production and put workers on indefinite leave because it owed foreign suppliers $11 million.
A local associate of global brewing giant Anheuser-Busch Inbev said this week it would invest more than $120 million of dividends and fees trapped in Zimbabwe into the central bank’s savings bonds.

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Iran's CB Governor: Banking Reform First, Redenomination Afterwards
Banking Reform First, Redenomination Afterwards
.....
The governor of Central Bank of Iran says the initiative to remove four zeros from the national currency will take up two years because first the legal and technical infrastructure must be in place.
Outlining details about his proposal on the CBI website, Abdolnasser Hemmati said Monday that the measure is part of a comprehensive reform of the bloated banking industry with efficient monetary and supervisory tools.
He emphasized that the much-awaited reforms will come first and lopping off zeros from the rial afterwards.
“After going through legal formalities, the new money will be introduced gradually replacing the old banknotes ”, he said, adding that the printing costs would be much cheaper than the current notes.
cant reform and then remove must be done same time...

Currency reconversion not a turning point in economic reformation
Economy
January 8, 2019
One of Iran’s main economic policies, under the framework of the sixth five-year development plan, is modification of banking system and reformation of monetary policies, moving forward toward which the Rouhani administration put forward the plan to shift the national currency from Rial to Toman earlier in December 2016 by eliminating specific number of zeroes.
However, the administration decided to postpone implementation of currency reconversion policy in 2016 due to some reasons including the expressed concerns about the time unfitting economic conditions which would ignite inflation and economic instability.
The policy basically seeks to facilitate monetary transactions among the Iranians and match the currency being transcribed in official documents and banking bills (rial) with the one utilized in real daily lives of Iranians (toman). Rial has practically been replaced by Toman in daily transactions as the result of the cumulative inflation over the recent years.
On Saturday, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) submitted the bill on lopping off four zeroes of the national currency to the cabinet, the act which drew public attention to the issue again, forming a chorus of criticism and speculations.
Through its proposed bill, the CBI seems primarily able to re-empower the depreciated national currency, tangibly decrease the ever-increasing liquidity volume, and make a nominal reduction in prices of goods and services in the country.
The most remarkable achievements of implementing the bill, however, would be a psychological one among the society. Shifting from rial, the free market exchange rate of which is presently about 110,000 against the U.S. dollar, by cutting four zeroes to toman may cover the psychological aspects of the inflationary impacts of rial devaluation, which has unprecedentedly increased prices in Iran. It is said to be able to recover national currency’s value against U.S. dollar to some extent and cool down the inflated prices, as well.
Omitting zeroes from the national currency would surely facilitate calculations and money transfers in daily transactions and would seemingly retaliate for the sharp recent rial devaluation but it should not be expected to improve Iranians purchasing power at all.
It would not have any specific impact on economic indices, inflation, investments, job creation or demand and supply, either.
As a matter of fact, economic stability and single-digit inflation rate are the most significant prerequisites of implementing currency reconversion while Iran is experiencing none of the named factors.
Currency reconversion per se would have an inflationary effect. To curb its inflationary impact, it must be done simultaneous with taking contractionary measures and modifications in monetary policies.
In addition, printing new banknotes and injecting them to the market would impose an amount of costs on the shoulder of the central bank.
Addressing the issue in an interview with the Tehran Times, the Iranian economist and President of Iran World Trade Center Mohammad Reza Sabzalipour said that “the government aims to hit several targets with one shot.”
“It seeks to control money and liquidity volume in the society i.e. cutting four zeroes would change the present 17 quadrillion rials (about $404 billion) of liquidity down to 1.7 trillion rials (about $40.4 million) overnight,” he explained, “but the zeroes will incrementally come back and liquidity will be increased over time, in case CBI continues printing fiat money.”
“The act would appease the public opinion just for a short time when they see the price numbers of the goods and services are decreased but after a while when their income also comes with lower zeroes, they will find out that what has happened has not improved their commonwealth,” he added.
“There is no reason for us to consider a national currency with less zeroes a more valuable one,” Sabzalipour said, “having a strong economy is not necessary related to having a national currency with low number of zeroes but to positive trade balance and high quality of the nation’s livelihood.”
“The decided monetary reconversion is mere a political and a psychological move,” he underscored.
What the government is getting prepared to do should not be expected as a revolutionary step in Iran’s economic and banking reformations, that would bring the nation a better livelihood and a more prosperous economy.
It is a postponed measure that has not been implemented in previous years due to lack of proper economic conditions and it is being done under the circumstances that the country is experiencing the toughest economic conditions in its history thanks to the U.S.-led draconian sanctions and when a rampant inflation rate is expected for the upcoming Iranian year.
The costly currency reconversion would, for sure, facilitate money transfer and calculations in daily transactions and also reduce the volume of exchanged paper money and etc., but its effect would be neutralized and the omitted zeroes would snap back one after the other in the long-run, in case of monetary mismanagement or any other unpredicted international, political or economic event which would threaten the economy.
HJ/MA

Draft bill prepared to cut zeroes from national currency
Economy
January 6, 2019
TEHRAN – The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) submitted the draft of a bill to slash four zeroes from the national currency, rial, to the cabinet, Tasnim news agency quoted the governor of the CBI as saying on Sunday.
“The government submitted the bill on crossing out four zeroes of the national currency to the parliament on Saturday and we hope to reach a good result as soon as possible,” Abdolnasser Hemmati said answering the parliament members' questions.
Underlying CBI’s full control on domestic foreign currency exchange market, the banking official predicted that regarding the conducted measures, injection of foreign currency to domestic market by Iranian non-oil exporters would be accelerated in future.
Hemmati, elsewhere, named the taken measures for modification of banking system and bringing stability to monetary market among the most major CBI acts in recent months.
As Hemmati announced few days ago, since his appointment as the CBI governor, all the required programs to amend banking system have been planned relying on ratifications of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination and formation of Liquidity and Money Market Committee consisting of economy, monetary and banking experts besides central bank officials.
HJ/MA

Dropping zeros from bills to stabilize Iran economy: Agency
According to a Friday report by EFE, the idea to delete zeros from the bills in Iran was suggested a long time ago, but the depreciation of Iran's currency and galloping inflation have once again turn the spotlight on the issue.
Last week Head of Iran's Central Bank Abdul Nasser Hemmati proposed the removal of four zeros from the country's currency, i.e. rial.
On Sunday, Hemmati announced a bill would soon be presented to the parliament to slash four zeros from the national currency.
'The move is in many countries ushering in serious economic reforms,' Hemmati said.
Based on the report by EFE, Iran's economy requires major reforms, including in the banking system.
Zero elimination from national currency that has taken place in many countries and most recently in Venezuela can help curb inflation, facilitate foreign currency exchanges, save costs of printing notes and increase its face value, the Spanish news agency wrote.
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